Scientific research has increasingly proved that it is more advantageous in the healthy development of an infant for the infant to be fed human breast milk. Human breast milk contains at least 100 ingredients that are not found in cow's milk and cannot be replicated in the laboratory. In addition, the composition of milk constantly changes to keep up with the baby's needs. Babies digest the protein and fat found in human breast milk easier than the protein and fat in cow's milk. The higher sodium and protein levels found in cow's milk put extra stress on a newborn's developing kidneys. Human breast milk contains low levels of phosphorous, a mineral that tends to slow the absorption of calcium. Babies are rarely allergic to their mothers' milk, but one out of 10 infants is allergic to cow's milk formula. Breast milk has a laxative effect on the baby and as a result, few breast-fed babies get constipated. Breast milk also seems to help the baby's digestive system fight off the microorganisms that cause diarrhea. Nursing mothers pass along antibodies to their babies and those antibodies help build up immunity to disease. As a result, breast-fed babies tend to come down with fewer colds, ear infections and other diseases.
The combination of an increased awareness of the health benefits of breast-feeding an infant and the increased number of women returning to the work force shortly after giving birth has led to an increased use of breast pumps for maintaining a supply of breast milk for the infant when the mother is unavailable. Banks of donors' breast milk have also been established to nourish needy infants. The breast milk must be stored in a container which is fluid impermeable. This means that the breast milk should not be able to leak from the container, nor should air be able to penetrate the container. Air access to the breast milk will result in the milk being spoiled. In addition, the container must be able to withstand temperatures below 32.degree. Fahrenheit.
Heretofore there have been numerous types of containers and baby bottle liners developed for storage of liquid baby foods. However, up to now, no one has developed a storage container for mother's milk, and other liquids which must be kept sterile, which may be easily filled, and which may be placed directly in the refrigerator or freezer without additional storage apparatus. Typically, milk is withdrawn from a mother's breast by means of a breast pump into an intermediary container. The mother's milk is then decanted into a freezer proof rigid container, capped, and then placed in a special storage rack in the refrigerator or freezer.
Disposable bags of a nylon/polyethylene laminate have been developed to reduce the loss of nutrients when the milk is stored over a long period of time. When the mother wishes to utilize a nurser to feed her own breast milk to her child, it has been necessary for the mother to express the milk by hand, or by means a breast pump, into the disposable liner and then transfer the extracted milk by hand from the liner to the nurser. This procedure is time-consuming, messy and unsanitary, since unwanted elements may be introduced in the transfer of the milk from the pump container to the nurser.
Infant nursers, such as those manufactured and sold under the PLAYTEX trademark, consisting of a disposable polyethylene plastic liner fitted inside a rigid, reusable plastic shell, have become very popular due the convenience and added cleanliness and safety which comes from not having to wash and reuse the baby's bottle, however the PLAYTEX liner is not sealable, nor can it be stored in a refrigerator. Recently, Munchkin, Inc, has manufactured and sold a drop-in disposable bottle which may be stored in the refrigerator. This storage bottle, in order to prevent leakage of the stored milk from the bottle, must be maintained in an upright position in the refrigerator or freezer, and the storage bottle is sold with a rack for holding such storage bottle in the upright position. Since the storage bottle must be maintained in the upright position to avoid leakage from the bottle, the sealing means for the bottle is not fluid-impermeable.
Another recent product is the Mothers Milk Storage Bags.RTM., which consists of a tubular plastic bag which includes, at its receiving end, a clamping means for closing the bag consisting of a semi-rigid, flexible strip at the periphery of the receiving end. The instructions for closing the bag include folding the bag about the clamping means for at least four turns, then employing the clamping means. Empirical tests reveal that such means of clamping still do not prevent liquid from leaking from the bag, thus the bag is not fluid impermeable.